The protector of property and legal interests of the state, Bojana Ćirović, will challenge the first-instance verdict of the Commercial Court, according to which the state should pay the private company "Univerzal Monte" four million euros with associated interest from February 1, 2022, due to the termination of the agreement on the construction of the Meljine-Petijevići road.
Yesterday, the Commercial Court announced its verdict, which can be appealed to the Court of Appeal.
The court found the request for the payment of VAT in the amount of 840.000 euros, which this company demanded in a lawsuit, to be unfounded. In addition, the judgment dismissed as illegal the state's counterclaim, which sought to establish that the agreement on the termination of the Agreement on Construction, Operation and Transfer (BOT) for the Meljine-Petijevići road is null and void.
"The complaint will be filed in a timely manner. Specifically, the prosecutor (Universal Monte) stated that it was a question of compensation for damages, which the state emphasized during the proceedings, and which proposal for the presentation of evidence through expert testimony was rejected by the court. This is because the plaintiff did not fulfill all his contractual obligations, and for that reason the concluded agreement is disputed", Ćirović officially explained to "Vijesti".
The contract with the company, behind which stands the Serbian businessman Vuk Hamović, which built the Meljine-Petijevići road in 2008 under an arrangement based on which it was supposed to use it for 20 years and return it to the ownership of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, was agreed on May 7, 2021. terminated by the Government of Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić, after which the toll on this section stopped being collected. The agreement was signed on behalf of the state by former Minister of Finance and Social Welfare and current Prime Minister Milojko Spajić and on behalf of the Municipality of Herceg Novi by its President Stevan Katić.
At that time, the government tasked the Ministry of Finance to, according to the agreement, provide four million euros in the budget for the following year for the payment of compensation to "Univerzal Monte". The ministry, which was managed by the then current Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, did not do that. Instead, at the last session of the former Government in April 2022, it was concluded that this money should be paid from the budget reserve.
The Government of Dritan Abazović did not fulfill this obligation, but forwarded the documentation related to this case to the Special State Prosecutor's Office, while "Univerzal Monte" initiated a lawsuit against the state demanding the payment of four million plus VAT. The state responded with a counterclaim seeking annulment of the agreement.
The outcome of this dispute is also monitored by the SDT, which told "Vijesta" at the beginning of last year that they are monitoring the litigation in the Commercial Court, because the outcome will be important for the prosecutor's decision.
On January 19 last year, Spajić said on the show "Nachisto" that no one called him from the Prosecutor's Office and that he was looking at the state interest in relation to this decision and that he can't wait for the Prosecutor's Office or someone else to come up with an argument against his.
The company "Univerzal Monte" told "Vijesta" at the beginning of this year that if they do not win this dispute against the state in the Commercial Court, they will continue the dispute before international instances, which will additionally cost millions of euros in interest.
Vlaović: The verdict confirms that we have complied with the agreement
Director of the private company "Univerzal Monte" Đorđe Vlaović officially told "Vijesta" yesterday that the Commercial Court adopted the factual and legal argumentation in everything and found that this company fulfilled its contractual obligations in everything from the Agreement on Termination of the Agreement on Construction, Operation and Transfer (BOT) of the Meljina - Petijevići road, closed on 7/5/2021.
"Thus, the court obliged the state of Montenegro to pay the owed amount of 4 million euros with all related interest and other court costs," said Vlaović.
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